Monday, January 10, 2011

As I wandered the aisles of my favorite warehouse store last week, I came across two-pound bags of French green beans. Fresh! These days, my French is pretty much limited to asking directions and reading menus. I'm not sure if they are haricots vert, haricot vert or haricots verts. I do know they are delicious.

I could hardly contain my anticipation of putting these delicious green vegetables on our table and doing so in a simple way.

French Green Beans with Pink Himalayan Salt

1 pound of harcots vert, rinsed. Do not cut off the tips or attempt to string.

Place beans in a steamer over boiling water for three minutes. Remove and set aside until ready to finish.

In a skillet large enough to hold the beans, saute one large shallot, thinly sliced, in 1 Tbsp of olive oil until browned and starting to caramalize.

Add the beans and toss with the shallots until heated through.

Sprinkle with Pink Himalayan Salt (or table salt) to taste.

Here it is. Lovely to look at and, if one believes the literature, a real boon to health. It's actually a form of Halite (rock salt) that is mined in Pakistan. It's color is the result of iron oxide. If you look closely at the photo of the green beans, you'll see it sprinkled about.

I do believe we felt pretty good after ingesting some. Or, maybe that was due to the beans!!